The Watcher's Daughter
by Sanura Bey
Summary: Elizabeth Giles, Liz to her friends and family, daughter of Rupert Giles, was taken to America when her father was ordered by the Watcher's council to find and prepare Buffy as her watcher. She holds a secret within her and a friendship her father would never approve of.
1. Welcome to the Hellmouth

In every generation there is a Chosen One. She alone will stand against the vampires, the demons and the forces of darkness, until now.

* * *

I was waiting with Willow for Xander to come to school like I normally did. After I'd moved here from England with my dad they'd been the first to make me welcome so we stayed with each other and became quick friends. I saw him doing his usual bob and weave through the crowd on his skateboard and moved towards him with Willow at my side. I had one other friend, but he was kinda a secret from everyone, especially my dad. We watched him crash into the railing and fell beneath it.

"I'm Okay. I feel good." He told us as Willow smiled down at him. "Liz! Willow! You're so very much the people that I wanted to see!" he said getting up.

"Oh, really?" Willow asked with a smile on her face as we started walking towards the school.

"Yeah. You know, I kinda had a problem with the math." He told her.

"Uh, which part?" she asked him.

"The math. Can you help me out tonight, pleeeease, be my study buddy?" he begged her.

"Well, what's in it for me?" she asked him.

"A shiny nickel!" he bribed.

"Okay. Do you have 'Theories in Trig'? You should check it out." She told him.

"Check it out?" he asked her.

"From the library? Where the books live." Willow reminded him.

"Right, I'm there! See, I wanna change..." he told her and I laughed.

"Xander, if you change then I'll start doing as my father tells me to do more often." I told him making them both laugh as we walked through the school doors.

"Hey, hey!" Jesse said as we met up with him in the school.

"Hey, Jesse, what's what?" Xander asked him.

"New Girl!" Jesse said and I paid more attention. She was the one my father was waiting on I bet.

"That's right, I saw her. Pretty much a hottie!" Xander said.

"I heard someone was transferring..." Willow cimed in.

"So tell!" Xander said.

"Tell what?" Jesse asked him.

"What's the sitch, what do ya know about her?" Xander asked.

"New girl!" Jesse repeated.

"Well, you're certainly a font of nothing!" Xander said as we made our way to our lockers and separated to our classes.

I had history with Cordelia and the new girl: Buffy Sommers. Everyone was doing their own thing, reading, taking notes, etc. as the teacher told us about the Black Death.

"It's estimated that about 25 million people died in that one four-year span. But the fun part of the Black Plague is that it originated in Europe how?" she asked us, but no one answered. "As an early form of germ warfare. If you'll look at the map on page 63 you can trace the spread of the disease into Rome, and then north. And this popular plague led to what social changes? Steve?" she asked right before the bell rang and we all got up to leave. I immediately moved down the hall and found Willow at the fountain.

"Hey, how was class?" I asked her.

"It was ok." She told me.

"Knowing you, you already knew everything they were telling you." I joked with her making her laugh before she took a drink.

"Willow!" we both turned to see Buffy with Cordelia. "Nice dress! Good to know you've seen the softer side of Sears."

"Uh, oh, well, my mom picked it out." Willow told her.

"No wonder you're such a guy magnet. Are you done?" She asked rudely. Willow looked at the fountain, then back to Cordelia.

"Oh!" Willow said finally understanding what she was after.

"Why don't you ever back off?" I asked her as I followed Willow out of the hallway. I made my back to Willow who was almost out the door. "Hey, Will, you okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah, I'm used to it." She reminded me and I just looked at her.

"I'm going to go see my dad. You sure you're going to be okay?" I asked her.

"Yeah. I'll see you at lunch." She said with a smile.

"See ya." I then left her for the library.

"Dad." I called out for him.

"I'm here." He said coming down from the stacks.

"New girl's here." I told him.

"Is she?" he asked me interested as we moved to his office.

"You know, ever since they lost interest in…" I started saying but he cut me off.

"Don't worry about it, Liz. We will find her and make sure the same thing doesn't happen to her that did you." He told me giving me a comforting hug.

"Hello?" we heard a girl call out. "Is anybody here?" Dad left the office and I watched as he walked up behind her and tapped her on the shoulder. She turned to him startled revealing Buffy.

"Ooo!" she gasped before smiling. "Anybody's here!"

"Can I help you?" he asked her.

"I was looking for some, well, books. I'm new." She told him.

"Miss Summers?" Dad asked her.

"Good call! Guess I'm the only new kid, huh?" she asked him with a smile.

"I'm Mr. Giles. The librarian. I was told you were coming." He told her as he headed behind the counter.

"Great! So, um, I'm gonna need 'Perspectives on 20th Century...'" she started saying.

"I know what you're after!" he interrupted her and with a big grin on his face he pulled out a large old book with the word VAMPYR written in gold leaf on the front cover. Buffy looked up at him with an uneasy gaze.

"That's not what I'm looking for." She told him.

"Are you sure?" he asked her.

"I'm way sure." She told him.

"My mistake." Dad said confused before he put the book back behind the counter and she fled. "So, what is it you said..." he stood up and watched her run out of the library. I walked up to him and stared at the doors.

"Well, I'm going to go to lunch. I'll see you later?" I asked him.

"Of course, yes." He said. I kissed him on the cheek before leaving to meet Willow for lunch. I found her outside sitting on a bench and joined her.

"Hey Will." I said sititng next to her.

"Hey. How's your dad?" she asked me.

"Same old, same old." I told her before Buffy approached us.

"Uh, Hi! Willow, right? I'm sorry I don't know who you are." Buffy told me.

"I'm Liz." I told her.

"Why? I-I mean, hi! Uh, did you want me to move?" Willow asked her.

"Why don't we start with 'Hi, I'm Buffy,' and, uh, then let's segue directly into me asking you for a favor." Buffy asked sitting next to me. "It doesn't involve moving, but it does involve hanging out with me for a while."

"But aren't you hanging out with Cordelia?" she asked her.

"I can't do both?" Buffy asked.

"Not legally." Willow and I told her.

"Look, I really wanna get by here, new school, and... Cordelia's been really nice... to me... anyway, but, um, I kinda have this burning desire not to flunk all my classes, and I heard a rumor that you were the person to talk to if I wanted to get caught up." Buffy told her. "Both of you."

"Oh, I could totally help you out! Uh, if you have sixth period free we could meet in the library?" Willow offered.

"Or not. Or we could meet someplace quieter. Louder. Uh, that place just kinda gives me the wiggins." Buffy told her.

"Oh, it has that effect on most kids. I love it, though, it's a great collection, and the new librarian is really cool." Willow said with a smile.

"Unless you're his kid." I corrected.

"He's new?" Buffy asked. "And you're his daughter?"

"Yeah, we just moved here about a week ago. He was a curator at The British Museum." I told her.

"There's only one?" Willow asked me and I nodded. "But he knows everything, and he brought all these historical volumes and biographies and am I the single dullest person alive?"

"Not at all." Buffy told her. Xander then hopped up on the wall behind us and sat on it between Buffy and myself as Jesse stood in front of us and dropped his bag.

"Hey!" Jesse greeted.

"You guys busy? Are we interrupting? We're interrupting." Xander said tossing his bag to Jesse.

"Hey!" the three of us said.

"Hey there!" Jesse said dropping Xander's bag next to his own.

"Buffy, this is Jesse and that's Xander." Willow introduced them.

"Oh, me and Buffy go waaay back, old friends, very close. Then there's that period of estrangement where I think we were both growing as people, but now here we are, like old times, I'm quite moved." Xander said.

"Is it me, or are you turning into a bibbling idiot?" Jesse asked him with a smile.

"No, it's, uh, it's not you." Xander told him.

"Well, it's nice to meet you guys, I think." Buffy said giving us a confused look.

"Well, you know, we wanted to welcome ya, make ya feel at home, unless you have a scary home..." Jesse told her.

"And to return this." He told her holding a stake. "The only thing I can think is that you're building a really little fence." He said handing it to her and she grabbed it from his hand.

"Hah, no, um, a-a-actually it was for self-defense. Everyone has them in L.A. Pepper spray is just so passe'." She said putting away.

"So what do you do for fun, what do you like, what do you look for in a man, let's hear it." Xander asked her.

"If you have any dark, painful secrets you'd like us to publish?" Jesse asked her.

"Gee, everyone wants to know about me. How keen." She said.

"Well, not much goes on in a one Starbucks town like Sunnydale. You're pretty big news." Xander told her.

"Yes, I was big news when I first moved here as well." I told her.

"But I'm not. Really." Buffy insisted.

"Are these guys bothering you?" Cordelia asked her walking up to us.

"Uh, no!" Buffy told her.

"She's not hanging out with us." Willow tried telling her

"Hey! Cordelia!" Jesse said standing quickly.

"Oh, please!" she said to Jesse before turning to Buffy. "I don't mean to interrupt your downward mobility, but I just wanted to tell you that you won't be meeting Coach Foster, the woman with the chest hair, because gym was canceled due to the _extreme _dead guy in the locker."

"What?" Buffy asked her.

"What are you talking about?" Willow asked her.

"Some guy was stuffed in Aura's locker!" Cordelia told us.

"Dead." Buffy said.

"Totally dead. Way dead." Cordelia said.

"It's not just a little dead then?" Xander asked her.

"Don't you have an elsewhere to be?" Cordelia asked him.

"You're the one who came up to us." I reminded her.

"Y'know, if you need a shoulder to cry on, or just to nibble on..." Jesse offered her.

"How did he die?" Buff asked her.

"I don't know." Cordelia told her.

"Well, were there any marks?" Buffy asked her.

"Morbid much! I didn't ask!" Cordelia told her.

"Um, I gotta book. I'll, I'll see you guys later." Buffy said grabbing her things and leaving.

"I have to get to the library." I said before grabbing my own things and leaving.

* * *

"Dad!" I called to him as I charged into the library.

"What? What is it?" he asked me.

"There was a body found in the gym. He was stuffed in a girls locker." I told him.

"Did you check out the scene?" he asked me.

"Nope, Buffy was there also so she probably did." I told him right before Buffy barged into the library.

"Okay, what's the sitch?" she asked before seeing me.

"Sorry?" Dad asked her.

"Speak freely." I told her. "I already know about all this."

"You heard about the dead guy, right? The dead guy in the locker?" she asked him.

"Yes." He told her as she dropped her bag on the table and headed up the stairs to us.

"'Cause, it's the weirdest thing. He's got two little, little holes in his neck, and all his blood's been drained. Isn't that bizarre? Aren't you just going, ooo?" she asked us.

"I was afraid of this." Dad said.

"Well, I wasn't! It's my first day! I was afraid that I was gonna be behind in all my classes, that I wouldn't make any friends, that I would have last month's hair. I didn't think there'd be vampires on campus. And I don't care." She told him.

"Then why are you here?" he asked her.

"To tell you that... I don't care, which... I don't, and... have now told you, so... bye." She said before turning away from her.

"Is he, w-will he... rise again?" he asked her.

"Who?" she asked him.

"The dead boy." I told her.

"No. He's just dead." She told us.

"Can you be sure?" Dad asked her.

"To make you a vampire they have to suck your blood. And then you have to suck their blood. It's like a whole big sucking thing. Mostly they're just gonna kill you. Why am I still talking to you?" she asked before turning and going back down the stairs.

"You really have no idea what's going on, do you? You think it's coincidence, your being here? That boy was just the beginning." Dad warned her.

"Oh, why can't you people just leave me alone?" she asked him.

"Because you are the Slayer." He said going down the stairs after her. "Into each generation a Slayer is born, one girl in all the world, a Chosen One, one born with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires..."

"...with the strength and skill to hunt the vampires, to stop the spread of their evil blah, blah, blah... I've heard it, okay?" Buffy told him.

"I really don't understand this attitude. You, you've accepted your duty, you, you've slain vampires before..." Dad said.

"Yeah, and I've both been there and done that, and I'm moving on." She told him.

"What do you know about this town?" he asked going into the office.

"It's two hours on the freeway from Neiman Marcus?" Buffy asked him.

"Dig a bit in the history of this place. You'll find a, a steady stream of fairly odd occurrences. Now, I believe this whole area is a center of mystical energy," dad said coming back out with four books. "That things gravitate towards it that, that, that you might not find elsewhere."

"Like vampires." Buffy said.

"Like zombies, werewolves, incubi, succubi, everything you've ever dreaded was under your bed, but told yourself couldn't be by the light of day. They're all real!" he told her placing the books into her hands.

"What? You, like, sent away for the Time-Life series?" she asked him.

"Ah, w-w-w-yes." He said and I nodded.

"Did you get the free phone?" she asked.

"Calendar." I answered.

"Cool! But, okay," she gave him the books back. "First of all, I'm a Vampire Slayer. And secondly, I'm retired. Hey, I know! Why don't you two kill 'em?" she asked us.

"I-I'm a Watcher, I-I haven't the skill… and Liz…" he started saying.

"Oh, come on, stake through the heart, a little sunlight... It's like falling off a log." She told him.

"A, a Slayer slays, a Watcher..." he tried telling her.

"...watches?" she offered.

"Yes. No!" he told her setting the books down. "He, he trains her, he, he, he prepares her..."

"Prepares me for what? For getting kicked out of school? For losing all of my friends? For having to spend all of my time fighting for my life and never getting to tell anyone because I might endanger them? Go ahead! Prepare me." She told him. They just looked at each other for a moment before Buffy exhaled, turned and left the library in disgust.

"Great going Dad." I said going after her.

"Damn!" he said before following.

"It's getting worse!" Dad called after her when we caught up to her.

"What's getting worse?" she asked not turning to us.

"The influx of the undead." He told her.

"Not just vamps but all supernatural monsters. It's been building for years in this town." I told her.

"There's a reason why you're here and a reason why it's now!" he told her.

"Because now is the time my mom moved here." She said trying to move away from us but I stepped in front of her.

"Something's coming, something, something... something is, is gonna happen here. Soon!" he told her.

"Gee, can you vague that up for me?" she asked him sarcastically.

"The signs, as far as I can tell, point to a crucial mystical upheaval, very soon. Days. Possibly less." He answered.

"Oh, come on! This is Sunnydale! How bad an evil can there be here?" she asked him.

"That's what we need to find out." I told her. She gave me a look before going to her next class.

* * *

Later that night I was preparing to go to the Bronze with my dad to look for Buffy and try to talk sense into her.

"Hey." I turned and saw my friend standing outside my window and smiled at him.

"Hey. What's up?" I asked him.

"I plan on meeting her tonight. Did she take your warning?" he asked me and I shook my head. "Did you think she would?"

"In all honesty, I had hoped she would. But I understand why she didn't in a way." I said leaning on the wall next to the window.

"Because you want the same thing?" he asked me. "A normal life?"

"Sometimes I do, but most the time I don't. If I had a normal life I'd be just as at risk as the rest of this town." I explained. "I'd be… defenseless. I'd have never met you." I said looking at him again. He just stared at me and handed me a box.

"The Hellmouth is about to open." He told me as I took the box. "Be ready for the Harvest."

"The Harvest?" I asked turning to him but he was already gone. I opened the box to see a cross necklace inside. "Thank you. Angel."

* * *

Later at the Bronze I was standing next to my father when Buffy joined the two of us.

"So, you like to party with the students. Isn't that kinda skanky?" Buffy asked my dad.

"Oh, right, this is me having fun. Watching... clown hair prance about is hardly my idea of a party. I'd much rather be at home with a cup of Bovril and a good book." Dad told her.

"You need a personality, stat!" she told him.

"Don't we both know it." I agreed earning a look from him.

"This is a perfect breeding ground for vampire activity." He reminded her. "It's dark, it's crowded... Besides, I knew you were likely to show up, and I have to make you understand..."

"...that the Harvest is coming. I know, your friend told me." She told him.

"What did you say?" he asked her.

"The Harvest. That mean something to you? 'Cause I'm drawing a blank." She told us.

"I'm not sure. Uh... W-who told you this?" he asked her as I looked out among the crowd.

"This... guy. Dark, gorgeous in an annoying sort of way. I figured you two were buds." She told him.

"No. The Harvest. Did he say anything else?" he asked her.

"Something about the Mouth of Hell. I _really_ didn't like him!" she told him.

"Hellmouth." I said and they both looked to me as the band finished the song they were playing and switched to the next one as the three of us stared down at the crowd below us.

"Look at them, throwing themselves about, completely unaware of the danger that surrounds them." Dad told her.

"Lucky them." She said.

"Or perhaps you're right. Perhaps there is no trouble coming, the signs could be wrong. It's not as though you've been having the nightmares." Dad said and Buffy just continued to stare at them. I watched her face as she watched them and her eyes widened. She's had them.

"I didn't say I'd never slay another vampire. It's not like I have all these fluffy bunny feelings for them, I'm just not gonna get way extracurricular with it." She explained. "You know, if I see one, sure I'll..."

"Will you be ready?" he asked her. "There's so much you don't know about them, about your own powers. A vampire appears to be completely normal until the feed is upon them, only then do they reveal their true demonic visage."

"You're like a textbook with arms, I know this." She reminded him.

"The point is, a Slayer should be able to see them anyway. Without looking, without thinking. Can you tell me if there's a vampire in this building?" he asked her and she looked below us.

"Maybe..." she said, but we both knew she couldn't.

"You should know. Even through this mass and this... din, you should be able to sense them. Well, try! Reach out with your mind." He told her and she looked around. "You have to hone your senses, focus until the energy washes over you, until you, you feel every particle o-of..."

"There's one." She said pointing to a man talking to a girl.

"W-where?" dad asked her.

"Right there, talking to that girl." She said continuing to point at him.

"You don't know..." he told her.

"Oh, please! Look at his jacket. He's got the sleeves rolled up, and the shirt! Deal with that outfit for a moment." Buffy told him and I laughed.

"She's got a point dad."

"It's dated?" he asked her.

"It's carbon dated. Trust me, only someone living underground for ten years would think that was still the look." She told him.

"But you didn't... hone." He said and the couple turned and we saw the girl he was talking to.

"Oh, no." Buffy said.

"Isn't that..." dad started asking.

"Willow." I said.

"What's she doing?" dad asked.

"Seizing the moment!" Buffy said before going downstairs. I gripped the railing tightly and watched as th vampire took my friend away.

"Dad we have to do something." I told him before going downstairs. I was soon joined by Buffy and my dad.

"That _was_ quick. Well done! I-I need to go to the library. This Harvest thing..." dad started saying.

"I didn't find them!" she said and I grabbed her arm forcing her to look at me.

"The vampire is not dead?" dad asked her.

"Willow isn't safe?" I asked her.

"No, but my social life is on the critical list." She told us.

"Screw your social life! Willow is more important than that!" I shouted at her.

"So, what do we do?" Dad asked.

"I'll take care of it!" she told us.

"**We'll** take care of it!" I corrected her.

"I-I-I need to come with you, yes?" Dad asked us.

"Don't worry. One vampire we can handle." She told him and we both left the Bronze only to run into Xander outside.

"Hey, you're leaving already?" he asked us.

"Oh, Xander! Have you seen Willow?" Buffy asked him.

"Not tonight, no." he answered.

"She left with a guy." I told him.

"We're talking about Willow, right? Scorin' at the Bronze, work it girl..." Xander said doing a little dance.

"No, we need to find her. Where would he take her?" Buffy asked.

"Ice cream maybe?" I offered and we started to walk away again.

"Why? Oh, hey, I hope he's not a vampire, because then you might have to slay him." Xander said and we both turned to him.

"Was there a... a school bulletin? Was it i-in the newspaper? Is there anyone in this town who doesn't know I'm the Slayer?" she asked him.

"No. I only know that you _think_ that you're the Slayer, and the reason why I know that..." Xander started telling her but I cut him off.

"It doesn't matter." I said.

"You're serious!" Xander said finally getting it.

"We don't find her and there's gonna be one more dead body in the morning!" Buffy told him. The three of us quickly made our way to the ice cream parlor only to find a cemetery on the way.

"Looks like we found them." I said before we all ran into the cemetery. As we continued to search for them we heard Willow scream from one of the crypts and quickly went inside to find both her and Jesse surrounded by two vampires.

"Well, this is nice. I-it's a little bare, but a dash of paint, a few throw pillows... call it home!" Buffy said walking inside of it. She moved away from the two innocents and drew the vampires to her.

"Who the hell are you?" the female vampire asked her.

"You mean there's actually someone in this town who doesn't know already? Whew, that's a relief, I'm telling you! Having a secret identity in this town is a job of work." Buffy said.

"Buffy, we bail now, right?" Xander asked her.

"Not yet!" the male vampire said.

"For once I'm in total agreement." I said.

"Okay, first of all, what's with the outfit? Live in the now, okay? You look like DeBarge!" Buffy told him as she turned to the female. "Now, we can do this the hard way, or... well, actually there's just the hard way."

"That's fine with me!" the female told her.

"Are you sure? Now, this in not gonna be pretty. We're talking violence, strong language, adult content..." Buffy listed off as the male roared behind her. She pulled out a stake from her shirt and she jammed it into his heart. His face was one of shock as he fell back and turned to ashes. None of the others could believe their eyes. "See what happens when you roughhouse?"

"He was young and stupid!" the female told her.

"Xander, Liz, go!" Buffy told us and we quickly went to Willow and Jesse and pulled them with us out of the crypt.

"Don't go far!" the female called after us as she and Buffy started fighting. We ran through the cemetery the other two supporting Jesse as we went.

"We'll get the police, it's just a few blocks up!" Willow said but we were stopped by a large group of vampires.

"Looks like planning won't help." I told her. We were surrounded by vampires.

**TO BE CONTINUED.**


	2. The Harvest

We were surrounded by vampires and I pulled out a dagger with wood inlaid to the metal attacking as many of the vampires as I could. I heard a vampire roar and Willow screaming and ran towards the sound and got their in time to see Buffy taking care of the vampire who was attacking my friend. I left to continue killing the vampires around us before seeing Xander being dragged away by two vampires.

"Leave him alone!" I ordered drawing them to me. I high punched one and side kicked the other. I used my dagger to stake one vampire then the other letting them fall dust on the ground before going to Xander with Buffy and Willow.

"Xander, are you okay?" Willow asked him.

"Man, something hit me." Xander said rubbing the back of his head.

"Where's Jesse?" Buffy asked us and I looked around for the boy.

"I don't know! They surrounded us." Willow told her.

"That girl grabbed him and took off." Xander said.

"Which way?" Buffy and I asked him quickly.

"I don't know." He said. I looked down and sighed as Buffy stood straight up and slowly scanned the cemetery.

"Jesse!" she whispered.

* * *

In the library my dad spun the globe as he told Willow and Xander the truth of the world we lived in.

"This world is older than any of you know." Dad told them stopping the globe from spinning. "Contrary to popular mythology, it did not begin as a paradise. For untold eons demons walked the Earth. They made it their home, their... their Hell. But in time they lost their purchase on this reality. The way was made for mortal animals, for, for man. All that remains of the old ones are vestiges, certain magicks, certain creatures..."

"And vampires." Buffy added holding an ice pack to her elbow.

"Okay, this is where I have a problem. See, because we're talking about vampires. We're having a _talk_ with vampires in it." Xander said freaking out a little.

"Isn't that what we saw last night?" Willow asked.

"No. No, th-those weren't vampires, those were just guys in thundering need of a facial. Or maybe they had rabies. It could have been rabies. A-and that guy turning to dust? Just a trick of light." Buffy said causing us to give her a strange look. "That's exactly what I said the first time I saw a vampire. Well, after I was done with the screaming part."

"Oh, I, I need to sit down." Willow said from her chair.

"You are sitting down." Buffy reminded her.

"Oh. Good for me." She said.

"So vampires are demons?" Xander asked.

"Not really." I answered.

"The books tell the last demon to leave this reality fed off a human, mixed their blood. He was a human form possessed, infected by the demon's soul. He bit another, and another, and so they walk the Earth, feeding... Killing some, mixing their blood with others to make more of their kind." Dad explained.

"They aren't demons or humans. They walk that narrow road between the two races." I said.

"They are waiting for the animals to die out, and the old ones to return. But the Slayer is here to stop all that." Dad finished.

"And that would be a what?" Xander asked him.

"For as long as there have been vampires, there's been the Slayer. One girl in all the world, a Chosen One." Dad told them and I gave Buffy a look.

"He loves doing this part." I told them. "Practices it at night."

"Alright. The Slayer hunts vampires, Buffy is a Slayer, don't tell anyone. Well, I think that's all the vampire information you need." Dad finished giving me a look.

"Except for one thing: how do you kill them?" Xander asked him.

"_You_ don't, _I_ do." Buffy told him.

"Well, Jesse's my..." Xander started saying but Buffy interrupted him.

"Jesse is my responsibility. I let him get taken." She told him.

"That's not true." Xander told her.

"They were after people for a reason." I reminded her. "They would have taken us regardless if you were here or not."

"But if you and Liz hadn't shown up they would have taken us, too. Does anybody mind if I pass out?" she asked and Buffy place her hand on the girls shoulder.

"Breathe." Buffy told her.

"Breathe." Willow repeated.

"Breathe." Buffy said again. "This big guy, Luke. He talked about an offering to the Master. Now, I don't know what or who, but if they weren't just feeding then Jesse may still be alive. I'm gonna find him." Buffy told my dad.

"Uh, this may be the dumb question, but shouldn't we call the police?" Willow asked us.

"And they'd believe us, of course." My dad said sarcastically.

"Well, we don't have to say vampires. We, we could just say that there's a, a bad man." Willow offered.

"They couldn't handle it even if they did show up." Buffy told her.

"Besides, they'd only come with guns." I added.

"You have no idea where they took Jesse?" dad asked us.

"We looked around, but soon as they got clear of the graveyard, they could have just, voom!" Buffy told him.

"hey can fly?" Xander asked.

"They can drive." Buffy corrected.

"Oh."

"I don't remember hearing a car." Willow told us.

"What about underground?" I offered.

"That's an enormous intuitive leap." Dad pointed out.

"Vampires really jam on sewer systems. You can get anywhere in the entire town without catching any rays. But I didn't see any access around there." Buffy told us.

"Well, there's an electrical tunnel that runs under the whole town." Xander told us.

"If we had a diagnostic of the tunnel system it might indicate a, a meeting place, it would, uh... I suppose we could go to the building commission." Dad said and I shook my head.

"We _so_ don't have time." Buffy told him.

"Uh, guys? There may be another way." Willow told us.

* * *

A short time later Willow pulled up the city plans on a computer monitor.

"There it is." Buffy said pointing at where the cemetery was.

"That runs under the graveyard." Willow said.

"I don't see any access." Xander said.

"So, all the city plans are just, uh, open to the public?" dad asked her.

"Um, well, i-in a way. I sort of stumbled onto them when I accidentally decrypted the city council's security system." She told him.

"Someone's been naughty." Xander said.

"And it came in handy." I reminded him.

"There's nothing here, this is useless!" Buffy said slamming her hand on the table.

"I think you're being a bit hard on yourself." Dad told her.

"You're the one that told me that I wasn't prepared enough. Understatement!" she sighed. "I thought I was on top of everything, and then that monster, Luke, came out of nowhere..." she stopped talking and looked somewhere that wasn't here.

"What?" Xander asked her.

"He didn't come out of nowhere. He came from behind me. I was facing the entrance, he came from behind me, and he didn't follow me out. The access to the tunnels is in the mausoleum! The girl must have doubled back with Jesse after I got out! God! I am so mentally challenged!" she told us.

"So, what's the plan? We saddle up, right?" Xander asked her and she gave him a look.

"There's no 'we', okay? I'm the Slayer, and you're not." She pointed out to him.

"I knew you'd throw that back in my face." Xander said.

"Xander, this is deeply dangerous." Buffy reminded him.

"I'm inadequate. That's fine. I'm less than a man." Xander said.

"Xander that's not what she's saying at all." I told him, but he wasn't listening to me.

"Buffy, I'm not anxious to go into a dark place full of monsters. But I do want to help. I need to." Willow told her.

"Well, then help me." Dad said speaking up finally. "I've been researching this Harvest affair. It seems to be some sort of preordained massacre. Rivers of blood, Hell on Earth, quite charmless. I'm a bit fuzzy, however, on the details. It may be that you can wrest some information from that dread machine." We all stared at him before he finally looked back at us. "That was a bit, um, British, wasn't it?"

"More like old." I pointed out making the others smile.

"Welcome to the New World." Buffy told him.

"I want you to go on the 'Net." Dad told Willow.

"Oh, sure, I can do that." She said beginning to type on the computer she was in front of.

"Then I'm outta here. If Jesse's alive, I'll bring him back." Buffy told us heading to the library door.

"Do I have to tell you to be careful?" Dad called after her. She turned and gave him a look before leaving.

* * *

Willow, Xander and I were walking down the hall to class making a list of things to look for on the computer search.

"Murder, death, disaster. What else?" Willow asked him.

"Paranormal, unexplained." Xander listed off.

"Don't forget natural disasters." I added

"Earthquake, floods." She listed off.

"Rain of Toads." Xander offered.

"Right." Willow said writing it down.

"Rain of Toads! Do you think they'd have anything like that in the paper?" Xander asked her.

"I'll put it on the computer search. If it's in there, it'll turn up. Anything that'll lead us to vampires." Willow told him.

"Look through other things as well." I told her. "They might not have put something like this in the papers."

"Got it." She said nodding.

"And I, in the meantime, will help by standing around like an idiot." Xander said and I sighed.

"Not like an idiot, just... standing. Buffy doesn't want you getting hurt." Willow told him as we stopped in front of our next class. "I don't want you getting hurt."

"None of us do." I insisted.

"This is just too much. I mean, yesterday my life's like, 'Uh- oh, pop quiz'. Today it's 'Rain of Toads'." Xander said.

"I know. And everyone else thinks it's just a normal day." Willow said looking around at the others.

"Nobody knows. It's like we've got this big secret." Xander said.

"We do. That's what a secret is, when you know something other guys don't." Willow explained to him.

"Right. Look, maybe you should get to class." He told us indicating to the door next to us.

"You mean 'we'. We should get to class." Willow corrected him as we both gave him a look.

"Yeah." He agreed looking at the door.

"Buffy'll be okay. Whatever's down there, I know she can handle it." I told both of them.

"Yeah, I do, too." Xander said.

"So do I!" Willow said smiling before we went to class.

* * *

Later Willow and I were in a computer class together looking for what we talked about earlier after we were done with our assignment when Cordelia's voice cut through to us.

"No! It's supposed to find the syntax and match it. Or wait..." Cordelia said.

"Are we going to the Bronze tonight?" her friend Harmony asked her.

"No, we're going to the other cool place in Sunnydale." Cordelia told her sarcastically causing Harmony to look at her confused. "Of course we're going to the Bronze. Friday night? No cover? But you should have been there last night. 'Cause I ran into Buffy..." Willow and I shared a look. "...and can she be any weirder? She attacked me! Do you believe it?"

"I think we did this part wrong." Harmony sighed.

"Why do we have to devise these programs, isn't that what nerds are for?" Cordelia asked.

"Uh, she's doing something else." Harmony told her happily.

"Okay, and then pattern run, right? Or go to end? That's it!" Cordelia said excitedly.

"Maybe!" Harmony told her just as excitedly.

"So anyway, I come outta the bathroom, and she comes running at me. Screaming! With a stick! 'I'm gonna kill you! I'm gonna kill you!' I swear!" Cordelia laughed.

"Who?" a boy asked.

"Buffy!" Cordelia told him.

"The new girl?" Harmony asked.

"What's her deal?" the boy asked.

"Well, she's crazed." Cordelia said as though it was common knowledge.

"Did you hear about her old school?" Harmony asked them and they shook their heads in reply. "Booted."

"Well, I exhibit no surprise." Cordelia told them.

"Why was she kicked out?" the boy asked.

"Uh, because she's a psycho loony!" Cordelia exclaimed.

"No, she's not." Willow interrupted.

"What?" Cordelia asked her.

"She's not a psycho. You don't even know her." Willow pointed out.

"Excuse me? Who gave you permission to exist?" Cordelia asked her rudely.

"The same person who gave you permission." I told her. "Although, knowing your personalities, the one who gave Willow permission was higher up on the chain."

"Excuse me?" Cordelia asked angrily. "Do I horn in on your private discussions? No. Why? Because you're boring."

"Then why are you still talking to me?" I asked her as Willow got up to get her print outs.

"Okay, I think the program's done." Harmony told Cordelia.

"Finally the nightmare ends! Okay, so how do we save it?" Cordelia asked it.

"Deliver." Willow told her and I smiled.

"Deliver? Where's that?" Cordelia asked looking at the keyboard. "Oh!" I watched her face go from happy to shock in seconds.

* * *

After classes were over Willow and I made our way to the library where my dad was still doing his research.

"Buffy?" dad called to us when we entered.

"It's just us. So there's no word?" Willow asked him

"Ah, not as yet, no." he told us.

"Well, I-I'm sure they're... great." Willow said trying to help.

"They?" Dad asked her confused.

"Other than Buffy and Jesse, Xander decided to go with Buffy after all." I told him and he sighed.

"Did you find anything of interest?" he asked us in slight hope.

"I think, maybe... I surfed through the old newspapers around the time of that big earthquake back in '37? And for several months before there were a rash of murders." Willow told him handing her the printouts.

"Great! I-I mean, well, not, not 'great' in a good way, uh, um, uh, go on?" dad rambled.

"They sound like what we were looking for." I told him showing him on of the printouts in particular. "Throats torn open and lots of blood loss." Willow looked squeamish next to me. "Sit." I told her and she did.

"It's all coming together. I rather wish it weren't." he told us.

"Such is our lives." I reminded him.

* * *

Willow and I spent the next few hours looking through books trying to find more on the Harvest ritual. Our heads popped up when we heard Buffy and Xander come in.

"Did you find Jesse?" Willow asked hopefully.

"Yeah." Buffy told her, but her voice told me it wasn't good news.

"Was he dead?" Willow asked her.

"Worse." Buffy said before sitting down at the end of the table. "I'm sorry, Willow. We were too late. And they were waiting for us."

"At least you two are okay." Willow said before Xander startled us all by kicking a trash can violently.

"I don't like vampires. I'm gonna take a stand and say they're not good." Xander told us.

"So, Giles! Got anything that can make this day any worse?" Buffy asked him as he moved to the whiteboard and put the pen down.

"How about the end of the world?" he offered her.

"Knew I could count on you." She said sarcastically.

"Way to rally the troops dad." I told him.

"This is what we know. Some sixty years ago, a very old, very powerful vampire came to this shore, not just to feed." Dad told us.

"He came 'cause this town's a mystical who's it." Buffy said.

"Yes. The Spanish who first settled here called it 'Boca del Infierno'. Roughly translated, 'Hellmouth'. It's a sort of, um, portal between this reality and the next. This vampire hopes to open it." Dad told us.

"Bring the demons back." I added.

"End of the world." Xander finished.

"But he blew it! Or, I mean, there was an earthquake that swallowed half the town, and him, too." Willow told them.

"You see, opening dimensional portals is a tricky business. Odds are he got himself stuck, rather like a, uh, cork in a bottle." Dad said.

"And this Harvest thing is to get him out?" Xander asked.

"Pretty much." I answered.

"It comes once in a century, on this night. The Master can draw power from one of his minions while it feeds. Enough power to break free and open the portal. The minion is called the Vessel, and he bears this symbol." Dad said drawing a three pointed star on the whiteboard.

"So, I dust anyone sporting that symbol, and no Harvest." Buffy said memorizing the symbol.

"Simply put, yes." Dad told her.

"Any idea where this little get-together is being held?" Buffy asked us.

"There, there are a number of possibilities." Dad told her.

"But we don't have time to check them all." I added.

"They're goin' to the Bronze." Xander told us.

"Are you sure?" Willow asked him.

"Come on. All those tasty young morsels all over the place? Anyway, that's where Jesse's gonna be, trust me." He told us. Dad quickly grabbed his coat and started out of the library with the rest of us following.

"Then we should get there. The sun will be down before long." Dad told us.

"I gotta make a stop. Won't take long." Buffy said.

"What for?" Dad asked.

"Supplies." She replied.

* * *

We ran to the doors of the Bronze after Buffy finally met up with us and she tried the door.

"It's locked!" she told us.

"We're too late!" Dad said.

"I didn't know I was gonna get grounded!" she almost yelled at him.

"Can you break it down?" Xander asked her.

"Slayer strength can't solve everything." I told him.

"Um... You guys try the back entrance, and I'll find my own way." Buffy told us.

"Right. Come on." Dad said pulling us with him to the back.

"Uh, wait! Guys! Here!" Buffy handed Willow the bag of supplies she'd brought with her. "You get the exit cleared and the people out. That's all! Don't go Wild Bunch on me."

"Uh, see you inside, then." Dad told her and we ran round to the back. We quickly raced around to the back and Willow tried to door only to find it was also locked..

"No joy!" she said.

"We've gotta get in there before Jesse does something stupider that usual." Xander told us.

"You listen to me!" Dad said turning to Xander. "Jesse is dead! You have to remember that when you see him, you're not looking at your friend. You're looking at the thing that killed him." He told him before we tried to break in. Once we were finally in we focused on getting the crowd out of the Bronze. "Hurry!" I followed Xander to see the fight between Buffy and the large vampire. Buffy was down at the moment and we waited to watch her rise again before turning to the crowd.

"C'mon! Let's go! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon! C'mon!" Xander urged them on.

"Hurry up." I told the people around us guiding them to the back door with my dad.

"Hurry up! Come on! Through this door! Come on! This way!" Dad whispered as we all continued guiding them out. "One at a time! Quickly! Quickly! Liz come with me." He told me and I followed him to the other side of the room. "We're going to have to open the front as well!"

"Got it!" I told him going for the door. I heard him fall to the floor and turned to see a vampire on top of him.

"Hey!" I called to her and she looked up at me just as I kicked her off him. "Get the door open." I told him before she attacked me. I may not have Buffy's strength but I had something else. I used her strength and weight against her and tossed her over my shoulder, but not far sadly.

"Liz!" I turned real quick to see Willow toss me a bottle. I looked at it to see the wonderful words Holy Water. I heard the vampire behind me growl and stood turning to her.

"Come and get me bitch." I told her. She charged at me and I quickly opened the bottle and threw it in her face. She screamed and held her face as it steamed before she ran past me out of the club. I watched all the vampire leave the club and we went to meet with Buffy as she jumped off the stage.

"I take it it's over." Dad asked her.

"Did we win?" Willow asked.

"Well, we averted the apocalypse. I give us points for that." Buffy told her.

"I'll take it as a win." I said putting my arm on the red head's shoulder.

"One thing's for sure: nothing's ever gonna be the same." Xander said and Buffy and I shared a small secretive smile.

* * *

The next day at school Buffy and I were walking together and talking about nothing when we overheard Cordelia talking to her friend.

"Well, I heard it was rival gangs. You know, fighting for turf? But all I can tell you is they were an ugly way of looking. And Buffy, like, knew them! Which is just too weird. I mean, I don't even remember that much, but I'm telling you, it was a freak show!" Cordelia told her.

"Oh, I wish I'd been there!" the girl said.

"You should have been there. It was so creepy..." Cordelia told her before the two of them walked off. Buffy and I tried not to laugh as we met up with a bemused Xander.

"What exactly were you expecting?" Buffy asked him as we all continued walking.

"I don't know, something. I mean, the dead rose. We should at least have an assembly." Xander said as we met up with Willow and dad while continuing to walk.

"People have a tendency to rationalize what they can and forget what they can't." Dad explained to him.

"Believe me, I've seen it happen." Buffy told him.

"Well, I'll never forget it, none of it." Willow chimed in.

"Good! Next time you'll be prepared." Dad told her.

"Next time?" Xander asked him.

"Next time is why?" Willow asked him.

"We've prevented the Master from freeing himself and opening the mouth of Hell. That's not to say he's going to stop trying. I'd say the fun is just beginning." Dad told us.

"More vampires?" Willow asked and we stopped walking.

"Not just vampires. The next threat we face may be something quite different." He told her.

"I can hardly wait!" Buffy told him with a smile.

"Let the party come to us, I say." I agreed with a smile.

"We're at the center of a mystical convergence here. We may, in fact, stand between the Earth and its total destruction." Dad said and I shook my head at him.

"Well, I gotta look on the bright side. Maybe I can still get kicked out of school!" Buffy said as the four of us started walking to class with dad watching behind us.

"Oh, yeah, that's a plan. 'Cause lots of schools aren't on Hellmouths." Xander added.

"Maybe you could blow something up. They're really strict about that." Willow told her.

"I was thinking of a more subtle approach, y'know, like excessive not studying." She told them.

"I don't know I'm kinda liking this whole blow up the school thing." I told her. "Not only would it get us kicked out, but no school for the rest of the students."


	3. The Witch

"This is madness!" Dad raved in the library at school "What can you have been thinking? You are the Slayer! Lives depend upon you!" he said before he started pacing. "I make allowances for your youth, but I expect a certain amount of responsibility, and instead of which you enslave yourself to this, this..." he stopped pacing and stared at Buffy. "Cult?"

"You don't like the color?" She asked in her old cheerleading uniform holding pompoms.

"I d... Do you, um... Do you ignore everything I say as a, as a rule?" he asked her putting things on a cart.

"No, I believe that's your trick." Buffy told him.

"No, it's mine." I said and dad gave me a look before he pushed the cart to the counter. Buffy skipped in front of him and posed.

"I told you, I'm trying out for the cheerleading squad!" she said.

"You have a sacred birthright, Buffy. You were chosen to destroy vampires, not to... wave pompoms at people. And as the Watcher I forbid it." He told her going back to the table I was sitting on.

"And you'll be stopping me how?" she asked him.

"Well, I..." he sat next to me and crossed his arms. "By appealing to your common sense, if such a creature exists."

"I will still have time to fight the forces of evil, okay? I just wanna have a life, I wanna do something normal. Something safe." Buffy told him.

"Come on, Dad. Cheerleading isn't that bad." I told him. "It'll give her an excuse to go home late."

* * *

That afternoon, Buffy, Xander, Willow and I walked into the gym to see girls stretching for the tryouts.

"Giles didn't approve, huh?" Willow asked her.

"He totally lost his water. We haven't seen a vampire in over a week." Buffy reminded us.

"I'd say he should get a girlfriend if he wasn't so old." I added before shivering at the thought.

"Well, we're behind you." Willow told her.

"People scoff at things like school spirit, but look at these girls giving their all like this!" Xander said as a girl did the splits between two chairs. "Ooo, stretchy! Where was I?"

"You were pretending that seeing scantily clad girls in revealing postures was a spiritual experience." Willow told him.

"Who said I was pretending?" Xander asked her before turning to Buffy. "Oh, hey! Here's a good luck thing for tryouts." He handed her a bracelet.

"What's this?" Buffy asked him.

"What's that?" Willow asked him.

"Oh, how sweet!" she said before reading the inscription. "'Yours Always.'"

"I-i-it came that way, really, they all said that!" Xander said nervously and Willow sighed.

Just look at that Amber. Who does she think she is, a Laker Girl?" Cordelia asked when she walked up to us.

"I heard she turned them down." Willow told her.

"Turned the Lakers down for her school squad. Now that's spirit." I said. Joy, the cheerleading squad leader, stepped up with her clipboard and called for everyone's attention.

"Okay, listen up! Let's begin with," she looked down at her clipboard. "Amber Grove. If you're not auditioning, move off the floor."

"Amy! Hi!" Willow greeted the blonde close to us.

"Hi!" Amy greeted.

"I didn't know you wanted to be a cheerleader! You lost a lot of weight." Willow complimented.

"Had to." Amy told her.

"Do you know Buffy and Liz?" Willow asked her.

"Hi." The three of us said.

"Oh, how I hate this, let me count the ways." Amy told us as Amber began her athletic routine. "She trained with Benson. He's one of the best coaches money can buy."

"They have cheerleading coaches?" Buffy asked her.

"Oh, yeah! Don't you have? I train with my mom, three hours in the morning, three at night."

"Hmm, that much quality time with my mom would probably lead to some quality matricide." Buffy told her.

"Oh, I know it's hokey. But she's really great." Amy said. I saw Cordelia turn away with a look of contempt on her face as Amber continued her routine. Suddenly, Amber's hands began to smoke.

"What the...?" Buffy asked.

"That girl's on fire!" Willow called out.

"Enough of the hyperbole!" Cordelia told her.

"She's not joking!" I told her as Amber's hands caught fire. She dropped her pompoms and screamed. Buffy reacted as Amber flailed her hands in the air. Buffy jumped up onto the stands and pulled down a banner before running back to Amber. Buffy knocked her down and snuffed out the flames with the banner as everyone stared in shock.

"It's okay, it's okay, you're gonna be... okay." Buffy told Amber sending the three of us a look.

* * *

Back at the library, it was Buffy's turn to pace as Willow and Xander sat on the table and I went through some of the books in a cart close by.

"I've been slaying vampires for more than a year now, and I have seen some pretty cringeworthy things, but... nobody's hands ever got toasted before." Buffy said.

"I imagine not." Dad said coming out of the cage next to me.

"So, this isn't a vampire problem." Buffy said.

"No." she told him.

"But it is funky, right? Not of the norm?" She asked.

"Quite. Spontaneous human combustion is, is rare, and, and scientifically unexplainable, but there have been cases for hundreds of years. Usually all that's left is a pile of ashes." Dad told her.

"That's all that would have been left if it hadn't been for Buffy." Willow told him.

"So, we have no idea what caused this. That's a comfort." Xander said sarcastically.

"But that's the thrill of living on the Hellmouth!" Dad said sitting on the edge of the table. "There's a veritable cornucopia of, of fiends and devils and, and ghouls to engage." We all gave him a look. "Pardon me for finding the glass half full."

"Please stop." I told him.

"Any common denominators in cases of spontaneous combustion?" Buffy asked.

"Uh, rage. In most cases the person who combusted was, was terribly angry or, or upset." Dad told her.

"So maybe Amber's got this power to make herself be on fire. It's like the human torch, only it hurts." Xander said.

"I need to get the skinny on Amber. Find out if she's had any colorful episodes before." Buffy said leaving the library.

"That means hacking illegally into the school's computer system. At last, something _I_ can do!" Willow said joining Buffy.

"I'll ask around about her." Xander added.

"I'll ask around some contacts." I said.

"You guys don't have to get involved." Buffy told us.

"What d'ya mean? We're a team! Aren't we a team?" Xander asked.

"Yeah! You're the Slayer, and we're, like, the Slayerettes!" Willow told her.

"I just don't like putting you guys in danger." Buffy told us.

"Oh, huh, I laugh in the face of danger. Then I hide until it goes away." Xander told her.

"Yeah, that makes her feel so much better about us helping." I said sarcastically.

"Okay, just walk softly, at least until we know a little more. I mean, what if Amber isn't causing these problems herself?" Buffy asked.

"Well, then we have to determine who or what did, and, uh, deal with it accordingly." Dad told us.

* * *

By the day Joy was posting the new squad members, we'd found nothing to show why Amber caught on fire. I waited with Buffy and Amy in the back as a girl rushed away in tears because she didn't make the cut.

"I can't take this." Amy said next to us. Joy finally stepped away from posting the list on the bulletin board and instantly it was a fight to try to read the paper. Xander joined us from wherever he and Willow had been.

"Cover me, I'm goin' in." he said pushing his way through the crowd and looking at the list as Cordelia came out of the crowd.

"You're lucky!" Cordelia told Amy.

"I made it?" she asked hopeful.

"I made it!" she said before Xander joined us and she walked away.

"One of those girls hit me really hard! You should test for steroids." Xander told them.

"Results Xander." I reminded him.

"Okay, not only did you make the team, but you, Miss Summers, are the first alternate, and Amy's number three." Xander said. Amy looked at Buffy, badly disappointed, and ran off. "And what a better way to celebrate than with a romantic drive through..."

"Xander, alternates are the ones who didn't make the team, they only fill in if something happens to the ones who did." Willow told him.

"Excuse me." Buffy said going to console Amy.

"For I am Xander, King of Cretins. May all lesser cretins bow before me." Xander said.

"Don't worry, I'm sure they will." I said patting his arm.

"Thanks, you're such a comfort in times like this." He told me and I smiled.

"Happy to help." I said as the three of us walked away.

"Do Brits even understand sarcasm?" he asked me.

"Please, we invented it." I told him.

* * *

The next day at school, Willow, Xander and I were in the hallways between classes when Cordelia walked by in a daze.

"Cordelia, you haven't been mean to me all day. Is it something I've done?" Xander asked her as she walked by, but she said nothing to him. "Okay, see how she has no clue that I'm even a mammal, much less a human being?"

"I see that." Willow told him taking the pen she was chewing on out of her mouth.

"This is the invisible man syndrome. A blessing in Cordelia's case. A curse in Buffy's." Xander complained.

"You're not invisible to Buffy." Willow told him closing her locker before putting the pen back in her mouth as we started walking down the hall.

"It's worse! I'm just like a part of the scenery, like an old shoe. Or a rug that you walk on every day but don't even really see it." Xander complained.

"Like a pen that's all chewed up, and you know you should throw it away, but you don't, not 'cause you like it so much, more 'cause you're just used to..." Willow started saying until Xander cut her off.

"Will, yeah, that is the point, you don't have to drive it through my head like a railroad spike. I'm gonna take your advice and not beat around the bush." Xander told her.

"Or I could be wrong! Maybe you should beat around the bush more." Willow told him and I shook my head.

"Nah, I gotta be a man and ask her out. Y'know, I gotta stop giving her ID bracelets, uh, subtle innuendoes, taking Polaroids outside of her bedroom window late at night that last part is a joke to relieve the tension because here she comes." Xander said as Buffy started coming to us from her class.

"Is that even Cordelia's locker?" Buffy asked as Cordelia was trying to open a locker until she gave up and continued down the hall.

"Huh? Oh, I don't know. What I'm saying is accompany me Friday night..." Xander started saying until Buffy cut him off.

"Xander, I have to, um... We can make this up later. You don't mind do you?" Buffy asked before following Cordelia. Xander whistled like the sound of a bomb falling and exploding.

"Don't worry, King Cretin. I'm sure you'll have another chance." I said before following her.

* * *

Outside, I joined Buffy in following Cordelia to where people were taking Drivers Ed. Cordelia managed to hit the cones she was supposed to avoid and crash the car, before getting out in a daze and walking to the middle of the street. A delivery van was coming her way and she screamed when she saw it. Buffy managed to get to Cordelia in time to get her out of the way of the van. I joined them when the van finally passed.

"Oh, my God, I, I can't see anything!" Cordelia said.

"It's, it's okay, it's... Oh God!" Buffy exclaimed as my eyes widened.

"What's happening? I can't see anything!" Cordelia said. Her eyes had no irises and were completely white.

* * *

We went to the library after someone took Cordelia away to wherever she was going.

"Witchcraft. Blinding your enemy to disorient and disable them is, it's classic!" Dad said.

"Don't sound so excited." I told him and just gave me a look.

"First vampires, now witches. No wonder you can still afford a house in Sunnydale." Xander said sarcastically.

"Why should someone want to harm Cordelia?" Dad asked.

"Maybe because they met her? Did I say that?" Willow asked.

"You said what we were all thinking." I told her.

"And setting Amber ablaze?" Dad asked.

"Yeah, those guys don't hang..." Xander said.

"They're both cheerleaders." Buffy linked.

"Someone doesn't like cheerleading." Dad said.

"Or likes it too much." Buffy said.

"Amy!" Buffy, Willow and I said.

"So, you guys are leaning towards Amy?" Xander asked.

"She's desperate to get on that team, and I've got this feeling she'd do just about anything to make her mom's dream come true." Buffy said.

"Uh, let me make sure I have this right. This witch is casting horrible and disfiguring spells so that she can become a cheerleader?" Dad asked skeptically.

"I think you're underestimating the amount of pressure a parent can lay on you. If you're not a picture perfect carbon copy they tend to wig." Buffy told him and he looked to me.

"Don't look at me." I told him.

"Cheerleading was kind of her mom's last hurrah." Willow told us.

"Look, we still have to stop Amy. We should grab her and..." Xander started saying.

"I think we should be sure she's the witch before we arouse her suspicions. She's, she's capable of some fairly unpleasant things." Dad told us.

"Okay, alright," Buffy said getting up. "So, you're in high school, you are desperate to make the team and please your mom, so you turn to witchcraft. What's the first thing you're gonna do?"

"Check out the books on witchcraft!" Willow said and they went to the computer to access the on-line library card catalog.

"Uh, no! No, that would be the last thing you would do! You don't wanna leave a paper trail. Forget that!" Xander told him.

"It'll just take a minute." Willow told us and Xander went to them.

"We don't have a minute! Cheerleaders are in danger. Buffy's in danger. You were the first alternate, you are on the team now that Cordelia's out. You could be next. We gotta get you to a safe house." Xander told Buffy.

"Xander..." Willow started saying.

"Yeah."

"'Witches: Historic Roots to Modern Practice.' Checked out by Alexander Harris." Willow read.

"'The Pagan Rites', checked out by Alexander..." Buffy read.

"Alright, alright, it's not what you think." Xander told us.

"You like to look at the semi-nude engravings?" Willow asked him.

"Oh, well, uh, I-I guess it _is_ what you think." Xander said.

"Have you all quite finished? We have to find a conclusive test. There may be something in here..." he said looking through a book. "Yes, this should do it. You'll need some of her hair, a little quicksilver and some aquafortis."

"Well, that's just mercury and nitric acid. You can get that in the science lab." Willow told us.

"'Heat ingredients and apply to witch, and if a spell has been cast in the previous 48 hours, witch's skin turns blue.' Hmm." Dad read before shutting the book. "Oh, and you'll need some Eye of Newt."

* * *

In science class, Buffy and I were partnered on track two with Willow and Xander on track one. They had a frog sitting in front of them with me and Buffy having all the chemicals and things we'd need for the spell. I set up the ingredients and got them ready for the Eye of Newt and Amy's hair."

"Those of you in track one may begin your dissections... now. He indicates where the students should cut their frogs." D. Gregory said and I watched Xander trying to take the frog's eye out with tweezers. "Those of you in track two take your hydrochloric acid and your ammonium hydroxide and carefully pour them into your beakers. Now slow, slow..."

"I can't." Xander said putting the tweezers down. Wilow grabbed the frog and took out the eye and handed it to me.

"...capping one, I'm being safe. And you get..."

"Eye of Newt!" I said smiling dropping the eye into the beaker. We watched the ingredients in the beaker react and begin to bubble and smoke.

"...that."

"How's Buffy doing with the hair?" Xander asked and we watched her talk to Amy and get the hair. When she came back she handed me the hair and I mixed it into the concoction.

"Wave 'Hi' to the nice little witch!" Xander said in a low voice and I looked up to see Amy give us a quick look. I took the beaker and poured some of the liquid into a test-tube.

"All set." I said handing it to Buffy.

"Do you have a plan?" Willow asked her.

"Spill it on her. Try 'n' make it look natural." Buffy told us.

"We're right behind you, only... further back." Xander told her. Buffy slowly made her way over to Amy.

"Lishanne, can you tell me why these chemicals have this reaction?" Dr. Gregory asked her as Buffy poured some of the mixture onto Amy's arm, feigning an accident. We saw the liquid turn blue on contact. "Lishanne? Are you... Oh, my God!" We all looked to Lishanne, and saw her shaking her head violently. She turned to the rest of the class and we saw she no longer had a mouth.

* * *

After class, the four of us were in the halls talking about what happened in class.

"Did you see? Amy was as freaked out as the rest of us." Xander said.

"So it's not her?" Willow asked.

"The test was positive!" I reminded them.

"So, she's our Sabrina. I just don't think she realizes what she's doing." Buffy suggested.

"Well, should we talk to her?" Willow asked.

"Maybe we should talk to her mother. I wonder if _she_ knows what she's created." Buffy said.

* * *

After class the next day, Xander, Willow and I went into the gym to watch Buffy during cheerleading practice.

"Willow! Xander! Liz! My buds are here! I love my buds! Hi!" Buffy said jumping wildly before she noticed everyone staring. "Hi... Oh..." she got in line and the routine continued.

"Is it me, or is Buffy a bit looped?" Xander asked. Willow and I shared a worried look as the cheerleaders continued with a series of assisted cartwheels.

"We better get her outta there." I said. "Slayer strength uncontrolled can be dangerous."

"Yeah, before she..." Buffy overthrew Joy's aerial, sending her crashing into the gym wall. "...hurts someone."

"Did I do that?" Buffy asked her sounding a little more excited.

"You are _so_ out of here!" Joy told her and the three of us went running to her side.

"It's not her fault!" Willow told Joy.

"She's on medication." Xander lied.

"What?" Buffy asked him confused.

"Well, obviously not enough. Who's our next alternate? Oh. Amy, you just made cheerleader." Joy told Amy.

"No, no, no. You don't want her, she's a wi..." Xander quickly put his hand over Buffy's mouth.

"A wise choice indeed!" He said as he and Willow pulled buffy from the gym as I followed.

"She's a witchy!" Buffy said as we made our way through the halls.

"Buffy..." Willow started.

"I just got kicked off the team, didn't I?" Buffy asked.

"I don't think it was your fault." Xander said.

"Hmm, I know you don't, that's 'cause you're my friend. You're my Xander-shaped friend!" Buffy said happily leaning her head on his shoulder. "Do you have any idea why I love you so, Xander?"

"We gotta to get her to a..." Willow started before Xander stopped her with a gesture.

"Let her speak!"

"I'll tell you! You're not like other boys at all." Buffy told him.

"Well..." Xander said smiling.

"You are totally, and completely one of the girls! I'm that comfy with him." Buffy told us making Xander smiling wide.

"That's great." Xander said losing his smile.

"Any other guy who'd give me a bracelet, they'd... wanna date me, and be like a..." She began to feel woozy. "Oh! I, I don't feel so good."

"Buffy?" Willow asked before she collapsed in their arms.

"We need to get her to the library." I told them and Xander picked her up and we rushed to my dad.

* * *

When we got to the library, Xander laid Buffy prone in a chair and I quickly got a wet cloth for her forehead. Willow supported her head and kept the cloth in place with hand.

"We've gotta get her to a hospital!" Willow told us and I shook my head.

"They can't help her. This is a bloodstone vengeance spell." I explained to her.

"Hits the body hard like a, a quart of alcohol, and then it e-eradicates the, uh, immune system." Dad told her.

"A vengeance spell, like she's trying to get even with Buffy?" Willow asked.

"'Cause she knows I know she's a witch." Buffy said.

"The others she just wanted out of the running. You she intends to, um..." Dad dropped his sentence.

"Kill?" Buffy asked and he nodded.

"How much time do we have?" Willow asked.

"Oh, uh, I'm sure, uh..." Dad said, trying to lie to them.

"Truth. Please." Buffy requested.

"At this stage, three max." I told him.

"Well, how do we reverse the spell?" Xander asked.

"Well I, I've been researching that, and, uh, we can reverse all the spells if, um..." Dad took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes. "...we can just lay our hands on, on Amy's spell book."

"And if we can't get a hold of it?" Willow asked.

"The only other way to break a witches spell is take off her head." I told her.

"Show of hands!" Xander asked raising his hand.

"It's not Amy's fault. She only became a witch to survive her mother." Buffy told him.

"Look, I don't care why, I just care that you go on breathing." Xander told her.

"Giles, where would she be casting these spells?" Buffy asked.

"Oh, she needs a, a sacred space. A-a-a pentagram, um, large pot." Dad listed off.

"Her home. Okay. Help me up." Buffy said and Xander and Willow helped her stand. "We'll just go to her house and we'll get her book."

"Okay, we'll go with you." Willow told her.

"Uh, no! You guys stay here and keep an eye on Amy." Buffy ordered.

"And keep her away from the science lab. We'll need it to cast our counter-spells." Dad ordered before he and Buffy left. Willow and Xander looked at each other.

"You two watch Amy. I'll get the lab ready." I told them.

* * *

That night, during the game, Dad carried Buffy in and laid her down on a lab table, knocking everything off in the process, before taking off his coat.

"We're gonna stop this. I promise." Dad told Buffy as he folded his coat and put it under her head as a pillow. "You just hang on." Buffy moaned and Dad went to a box of books and other things a woman had set on Dr. Gregory's bench next to me and pulled out a book.

"How is she?" I asked him.

"We only have a few minutes left." Dad told me.

"Who's she?" I asked looking at the women.

"Elizabeth meet Amy." He told me and I nodded. Dad and I prepared everything for the spell, including another eye from a frog. "Right! Here we go!"

"The center is dark. Centrum est obscurus. The darkness breathes. Tenebrae respiratis. The listener hears. Hear me!" Dad recited as he mixed the ingredients.

"Oh, it's... it's working!" Amy told us.

"Unlock the gate. Let the darkness shine. Cover us with holy fear." Dad read from the book as Amy staggered and covered her face. "Show me..." the lights went out in the classroom. "Corsheth and Gilail! The gate is closed! Receive the dark! Release the unworthy! Take of mine energy and be sated!" he plunged his hands into the mixture before removing them. Amy and I looked at the door and saw it being yanked on. "Be sated! Release the unworthy! Release!" Amy's mom began to chop down the door. "Release!" Catherine managed to make a hole and reach through to open the door and went straight to Buffy. "RELEEEEASE!" Catherine started to wield the ax, but stops when there's a flash of light and the spells were all broken. She looks around, a bit confused, stepped back and lowered the ax. Buffy had her strength back and got up from the table.

"Buffy?" Amy asked.

"Amy?" Buffy asked. Catherine lunged at Buffy from the side and tackled her to the floor, knocking her out. Giles advanced, holding his arm out and pointing.

"You... you..." Dad started for her. Catherine growled and looks at him. She uses her powers to force us back and push a table against us, pinning us to the wall. Amy just stood there watching, still holding the ax in both hands. Catherine got up and confronted her.

"You! You little brat!" Catherine said.

"Mom! Please!" Amy begged holding the ax threateningly. Catherine held out her hand and the ax flew from Amy's hands to hers.

"How dare you raise your hand to your mother! I gave you birth. I gave up my life so you could drag that worthless carcass around and call it living?" Catherine swung the ax into the lab table. "You've never been anything but trouble. I'm going to put you where you can't make trouble again!"

"Guess what?" Buffy asked Catherine, who turned to face her. "I feel better!" She punched Catherine, and she flew through the air, landing on a lab table and rolling off, hitting a shelf full of bottles along the way. She quickly got up.

"That body was mine! Mine!" Catherine shrieked.

"Oh, grow up!" Buffy told her. Catherine growled again, holding her arm out toward Buffy and using her powers to send her flying against the wall. Buffy hit the wall and fell to the floor. She got up, craning her neck as Catherine began to cast a spell.

"I shall look upon my enemy!" She looked up at Buffy, and her eyes had gone pitch black. "I shall look upon her and the dark place will have her soul!" Buffy looked around for a way to stop her.

"Buffy!" I said staring at a mirror above her.

"Corsheth, take her!" Catherine cast. Buffy did a standing hook kick, knocking the pole out from under the mirror and letting it flop down. Catherine's spell leapt from her hands and was reflected by the mirror back at her. The power of the spell enveloped her and she screamed. The energy twisted around her and disappeared with a roar, taking her with it. Buffy surveyed the scene to see Amy was badly shaken.

"Well, that was, um, interesting." Dad said as we pushed the table away from us.

"You guys okay?" Buffy asked.

"I'm fine!" Amy told her as I nodded.

"I assume the, uh, all the spells are reverse. It was my first casting, so...I may have got it wrong." Dad told us.

"You saved my life! You were a god!" Buffy told him.

"Well, I didn't think you'd pull it off." Amy told us.

"Good to know." I told her. Suddenly, Xander came rushing in and grabbed Amy tightly.

"I got her! I got her! Cut her head off!" he called out.

"Xander, what are you doing?" Buffy asked him.

"Saving you?"

"Get your hands off of her." Buffy ordered.

"But she's evil." Xander reminded us.

"It wasn't exactly her." Dad told him.

"I was my mom." Amy explained.

"Oh!" he said releasing her. Willow comes running in wielding a bat.

"Where is she?!" Willow asked.

"Uh, hey Willow! It's cool!" Xander told her.

"It is?" Willow asked.

"Yeah, I took care of it." Xander said and we all shared a look.

* * *

The next day, Buffy, Amy and I were walking together.

"My dad is _so_ impossible! He doesn't ever want me going anywhere! He wants to spend total quantity time together. And I'm, like, 'Dad, I can go out, it's perfectly safe!' But he's got all this guilt about leaving me with my mom. And he's being a total pain." Amy complained.

"You're loving it." Buffy said.

"Every single minute." Amy told us. "This Saturday night he wants to stay in and make brownies. Well, the brownies were my idea."

"Hey, I'm really sorry you guys got bumped back to alternate." Cordelia said coming up to us. "Hold it, wait... No I'm not!"

"Well, I know that I'll miss the intellectual thrill of spelling out words with my arms." Amy told her.

"Ooo, these grapes are sour!" Cordelia as we stopped at the trophy case as Cordelia continued on.

"Oh, I'm sorry. I forgot that you wanted to be on the squad." Amy said to Buffy.

"Oh, hey, that's okay. Cheerleading's just a little too hairy for me these days." Buffy joked.

"That's for sure." Amy agreed as we went around to the front of the case and look at Catherine's picture. "Catherine the Great."

"And there's been no sign of her?" I asked her.

"That last spell... She said I'd never make trouble again. Wherever she is I don't think we'll have to worry." Amy answered as we looked at the cheerleading trophy.

"Twisted." Buffy said as we left the case.

"I'm just happy to have my body back. I'm thinking of getting fat." Amy told us.

"Y'know, I hear that look's in for spring." Buffy joked and we all laughed.


End file.
